Jack SantosThis just in: http://www.suasnews.com/2010/08/587/wi-fi-aerial-surveillance-platform-wasp/.
Or the (supposed) headline: Hackers create WIFI drone. A little further clicking leads to the group’s website: http://www.diydrones.com/.
Seems that the media loves the term “hackers” – fear sells. I suppose that in the current climate I would have been under the same scrutiny as Google street-view, when I was a 12 year old 
building Estes rocket-cams. All for an aerial view of Mrs. Robinson getting a sun tan…
I long for the day that the term “hackers” had a positive connotation. As a ham (AB1JS), I was proud of that label. Now anyone doing any kind of homegrown experimenting is labeled an evil “hacker”. Especially if there is even the whiff of potential for privacy loss, or data theft.
I am beginning to feel some sympathy for first amendment gun owners, or farmers with barrels of oil and cans of fertilizer in their barns…intent and commission has a lot do with the label “hacker”, but our society seems to be forgetting that…
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Gary Mortimer August 16, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Sorry if it left a bad taste Jack, I understand where your coming from. My dad is a ham, G4OXR and I have been fiddling and with and making UAS for several years.
I should have thought some more before writing that post, but as the highest number of visitors I have had before has been 70 and right now I see 14,300 for today alone things have changed.
UAS, unmanned aerial systems the new name for UAV’s and especially the small ones face quite a time right now.
They can and should be used for good. My company makes environmental monitoring wings and we are currently working with a disaster response team towards making a simple useful platform. None of it is, rocket science. No pun intended.
We are lucky in the UK in that our regulators allow us to fly.
Over there in the new world its plain illegal for craft in our sub 20kg domain to fly for hire and reward and difficult for research.
You are beginning to fall behind.
Anything that threatens my cash and the future development of simple airborne systems gets my goat and I go off half cocked.
Sorry about that
73
Gart
2 RedQueen August 18, 2010 at 11:49 am
What Gary doesn’t know, or hasn’t put together yet, is that the makers of the drone are active members of the same groups he is. We enjoy the same hobby that he does and have probably at one point or another, spoken with him about the project.
There seems to be a righteous indignation within this group that a couple of plebian nobodies (in their minds) have the audacity to do something that they haven’t. This really seems to cause them great distress.
Thusly the natural respose from this group is that we are idiots, criminals, and numbskulls who have no regard for the law, or the life or property of others. How little they actually know.
Of course none of them were there when we spent early mornings, AMA memberships in hand, pouring over preflight checklists at the local RC airfield with one of the local RC flying club’s senior instructor pilots at the controls. I find it a more than a little disingenuous to see the posts screaming about “Stupid Evil Hackers Want to Destroy My Hobby” while the very same blog contains posts entitled “Lesson: Don’t fly planes over secure National Labs! ”
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/wifi-hacking-with-a-radio
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/705844:BlogPost:5904
We don’t mind criticism, but hipocisy is another story.
Can you see how concerned they are about overflight?
http://diydrones.com/photo/dowlishwake-1?context=user
Congratulations on the success of your story.
-RedQueen